掰 (bāi): to break off or break open sth with one's hands, (fig.) to break off (a relationship)

掰 (bāi) is a Chinese character meaning “to break off or break open sth with one's hands.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 手 (structural), 分 (structural) and 手 (structural). It ranks #2991 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 掰 to tear something 分 with both hands 手. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to break off or break open sth with one's hands
  2. (fig.) to break off (a relationship)

Etymology & Origin

掰

ideographicTo tear something 分 with both hands 手

Decomposition: ⿲手分手 (layout: left-middle-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing 掰 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
掰开verbbāi kāito pull apart
掰掰bāi bāibye-bye (loanword) (Tw)
掰腕子verbbāi wàn ziarm wrestling
分星掰两fēn xīng bāi liǎngpunctilious
机掰jī bāivariant of 雞掰|鸡掰
掰直verbbāi zhíto straighten
掰开揉碎bāi kāi róu suìlit. to pull apart and knead to a pulp
假掰adjectivegēi bāi(Tw) affected
掰手腕verbbāi shǒu wànarm wrestling
牛掰niú bāisee 牛屄 (euphemistic synonym of 牛屄)
闹掰verbnào bāi(dialect) to have a falling-out (with sb)
鸡掰nounjī bāi(Tw) (vulgar) cunt (from Taiwanese 膣屄, Tai-lo pr. [tsi-bai])
掰弯verbbāi wānto bend
掰扯bāi cheto debate
瞎掰verbxiā bāi(coll.) to talk nonsense
15
Total compounds
53
As first character
40
As last character
7
As middle character

掰 appears in 15 compound words: 53 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 掰 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瞎xiā
0.54238 co-occurrences
腕wàn
0.52068 co-occurrences
饼bǐng
0.43018 co-occurrences
弯wān
0.41918 co-occurrences
甘gān
0.37340 co-occurrences
脚jiǎo
0.37024 co-occurrences
啦la
0.33910 co-occurrences
腿tuǐ
0.33610 co-occurrences
假jiǎ
0.33342 co-occurrences
断duàn
0.32422 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

掰开揉碎bāi kāi róu suìHSK 7+

lit. to pull apart and knead to a pulp; fig. to analyze minutely from every angle; to chew sth over

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

掰照镜子,整理一下自己的仪容。

bāi zhào jìng zǐ , zhěng lǐ yī xià zì jǐ de yí róng .

Check your reflection in the mirror and tidy up your appearance.

少数派Aug 2026

但是本机拆机非常胆战心惊,底盖卡扣巨多,非常容易猪王行为(掰断卡扣)。

dàn shì běn jī chāi jī fēi cháng dǎn zhàn xīn jīng , de gài kǎ kòu jù duō , fēi cháng róng yì zhū wáng háng wéi ( bāi duàn kǎ kòu ) .

However, taking this device apart is a nerve-wracking experience—the back cover has so many latches that it’s very easy to break them off.

爱范儿Aug 2026

这会导致“狗熊掰棒子”,看似学会了叠袜子,但以前很溜的洗盘子反而退步了。

zhè huì dǎo zhì gǒu xióng bāi bàng zǐ , kàn sì xué huì le dié wà zǐ , dàn yǐ qián hěn liū de xǐ pán zǐ fǎn ér tuì bù le .

This can lead to a situation where, while the child seems to have learned how to fold socks, their once-impressive dishwashing skills actually get worse.

少数派Jul 2026

如果非要掰扯,青海湖周边也算草原,但更像高山草甸,附着在高海拔山区上的一层草皮。

rú guǒ fēi yāo bāi chě , qīng hǎi hú zhōu biān yě suàn cǎo yuán , dàn gēng xiàng gāo shān cǎo diàn , fù zhe zài gāo hǎi bá shān qū shàng de yī céng cǎo pí .

If you really want to split hairs, the area around Qinghai Lake could be considered a grassland, but it’s more like an alpine meadow—a layer of grass clinging to the high-altitude mountains.

IT之家Jun 2026

月之暗面黄震昕:Kimi 的目标是和海外那三家模型掰手腕,B 端业务占比正在持续提升

yuè zhī àn miàn huáng zhèn 昕 : K i m i de mù biāo shì hé hǎi wài nà sān jiā mó xíng bāi shǒu wàn , B duān yè wù zhàn bǐ zhèng zài chí xù tí shēng

The Dark Side of the Moon: Huang Zhenxin: Kimi Aims to Go Head-to-Head with Those Three Overseas Models; B2B Business Share Continues to Rise

TvbsFeb 2026

“民进党宝宝”陈怡君掰了!绿六都议员初选 3人遭撤销登记

mín jìn dǎng bǎo bǎo chén yí jūn bāi le ! lǜ liù dōu yì yuán chū xuǎn 3 rén zāo chè xiāo dēng jì

"DPP baby" Chen Yijun broke up! Three people in the primary election of the Green Six Metropolitan Councilors were deregistered

Tatoeba

面条下锅前要先掰成小块。

Miàntiáo xià guō qián yào xiān bāi chéng xiǎo kuài.

Before you put the noodles in the pot, you have to break them up into small pieces.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bāi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 掰 (bāi) mean in Chinese?
掰 (bāi) primarily means "to break off or break open sth with one's hands." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2991 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 掰 and 闭?
掰 (bāi) and 闭 (bì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 掰 (open) vs 闭 (close).
How many strokes does 掰 have?
掰 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 掰?
The radical associated with 掰 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 掰?
掰 is composed of: 手 (structural), 分 (structural), 手 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿲手分手 with a left-middle-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 掰?
Common words with 掰 include: 掰开 (bāi kāi, "to pull apart"); 掰掰 (bāi bāi, "bye-bye (loanword) (Tw)"); 掰腕子 (bāi wàn zi, "arm wrestling"); 分星掰两 (fēn xīng bāi liǎng, "punctilious"); 机掰 (jī bāi, "variant of 雞掰|鸡掰"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 掰 (bāi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bāi: 白 (white), 百 (hundred), 败 (to defeat), 拜 (to bow to), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 掰 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 掰 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 掰 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.